The present invention relates to the field of frozen food products including a raw protein portion. The protein may be by itself, or alternatively, the protein portion may include at least one of a raw or blanched vegetable portion or a sauce sealed in a cooking pouch formed of a sheet material having a paper outermost layer and a plastic coated metal innermost layer.
In today""s hurried world, little time is left for the involved processes of cooking a gourmet meal. Accordingly, resort has been made to taking advantage of processed or frozen, prepared meals. These meals come in various forms of precooked food and provide a wide range of entrees and flavors. However, the offerings of the processed food industry have not yet achieved the quality of a restaurant prepared meal. The reheating of frozen, precooked food cannot provide the flavor and texture of fresh food.
For example, a popular dish in restaurants which must be prepared from all fresh ingredients is xe2x80x9cpompano in a bagxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfillets de poisson en papillotesxe2x80x9d. This specialty item traditionally includes fish which is cooked in a parchment paper bag or using greaseproof (waxed) paper. The bag is crumbled at its open end to form a loose closing of the bag so as, to a limited extent, produce a build-up of steam pressure in the bag during a cooking process. However, this type of quality food product has previously been unavailable to the frozen food mass market.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a frozen food product which includes only a raw protein, or alternatively, in addition to the raw protein portion, at least one of a raw or an only partially cooked or blanched vegetable portion and a sauce, contained in a sealed cooking pouch made primarily of paper and a susceptor (microwave active) or strengthening layer, preferably aluminum, which may be placed in either an oven or microwave so as to aid in cooking the contents of the frozen cooking pouch by radiant and conductive heat.
The contents of the cooking pouch is a raw protein product, preferably one of fish, beef, poultry, pork or veal. Alternatively, the fresh or frozen raw protein includes two protein layers with a middle layer of moist stuffing. The moist stuffing includes cooked chopped onions, garlic, celery, parsley mixed with butter or butter substitute and bread crumbs.
In addition, vegetables may be added to the protein which are raw or blanched vegetables such as julienne peppers, chopped celery, carrots, onions, zucchini or broccoli. The blanched vegetables are only partially cooked so that the time remaining to complete cooking of the vegetables is approximately the same as the time required to cook the raw protein product.
After the protein and vegetable ingredients are stacked together in a preparation tray, a sauce may be added to the protein and vegetable ingredients. The protein, vegetables and sauce on the preparation tray are frozen. The protein, vegetables and sauce are removed as a frozen solid block from the tray, and in a preferred embodiment, a sheet of material is wrapped around the frozen solid block. Alternatively, the sauce may be added to the protein without the vegetable portion.
The sauce added to the protein and to the optional vegetables can include at least one of the following ingredients: garlic butter, pecan butter, lemon dill, meuniere, etoufee, etoufee with shrimp and/or dijon garlic. In addition, prepared dried seasonings may be used in combination with the prepared sauce or separate from the prepared sauce.
The pouch is formed on a horizontal wrapper machine. Doboy Packaging Machine Inc. of New Richmond, Wis. manufactures one such machine. The approximate size of the pouch sheet material will have a web width of 11 inches with a cut off length of 9 inches. Roll stock of the pouch sheet material is fed into the wrapper (sealing) machine and a pouch is formed on the production line.
The pouch is formed by a feed of sheet material in which a seal, called a fin seal, is formed on the underside of the food product. The material is cut at the desired length and moves into another sealing position where both ends of the pouch are sealed. The now complete cooking pouch is placed into a retail selling box. The fin seal area is of sufficient width to facilitate printing of xe2x80x9cTHIS SIDE UP FOR COOKINGxe2x80x9d on the sheet material of the fin seal. The location of the fin seal on top of the cooking pouch is necessary to contain all of the cooking juices in the pouch while food is cooking.
Alternatively, a pouch is formed around the food ingredients by folding a sheet of material and sealing three opposed edges to form a rectangular shaped pouch. By a different approach, two separate sheets of the package material are placed on top of each other and four side edges are sealed together to form a pouch.
The sheet material forming the pouch includes four layers. The thickest layer forming the outer surface of the formed pouch is formed by opaque, stiff paper, similar to parchment paper, having a thickness of approximately 2.5 mils. An adhesive layer of approximately 0.1 mils is used to attach a susceptor layer, preferably aluminum, of approximately 0.48 mils to the paper layer. A plastic layer, preferably polyester, forming the inner layer of the pouch is approximately 0.02 mils thick. A total sheet material thickness of 3.1 mils is preferred.
The adhesive is a water based material designed to maintain its adhesive properties when exposed to high temperatures. The polyester layer is a co-extruded, heat sealable polyester that is U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for direct food contact. The polyester layer, forming the innermost layer of the pouch, facilitates the heat sealing of opposed side edges or overlapping sheets of pouch material. The pouch sheet material is available from Printpack, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia as product code MW260A.
The assembly of the cooking pouch and the filling of the cooking other than the use of a packaging machine, as previously described, pouch is performed according to the following method.
Other than by the use of a packaging machine, as previously described, a cooking pouch can be formed by folding over a single sheet of pouch material and heat sealing two opposed side edges. The fold forms a third sealed edge, leaving a single side edge opening.
Alternatively, two sheets of the pouch material are laid on top of each other and three side edges are heat sealed to leave a single side edge opening. The side edge heat sealing may be performed by a device available from Doboy Packaging Machinery Inc. of New Richmond, Wis.
Fresh or frozen raw, uncooked protein product may, in one embodiment, be placed on a tray of approximately four inch by six inch dimensions. Alternatively, raw or blanched vegetables are deposited on top of the protein portion. For example, a blanched medley of julienne vegetables may be used. A liquid sauce may alternatively be deposited on the protein portion or over the protein portion and vegetables when the two are together.
The food product and the tray are frozen, after which the frozen food product may be removed from the tray and wrapped in sheet material, as previously described. The tray serves to contain the food product, primarily when a sauce is involved, when freezing the food. The frozen food can then be removed from the tray and wrapped. Alternatively, a sauce patty, in cold or frozen form, made up of sauce and julienne and diced vegetables, may be combined with the protein portion, before wrapping.
The cooking pouch will have a total package weight of approximately 2.3 to eight ounces. If a vegetable portion is included, the vegetable portion will weigh approximately 1.5 to three ounces. The protein portion of the pouch will weigh approximately 2.3 to seven ounces.
By the formation of the pouch, the protein will touch the inner surface, formed by the aluminum layer and the very thin layer of polyester. The closeness to the aluminum layer aids in allowing the protein to brown during the cooking operation by the concentrated reflection of heat onto the protein portion. In a microwave, the aluminum layer helps to absorb, reflect and transmit energy to the food product.
The assembled fresh or frozen raw protein and possibly at least one of raw or blanched vegetables and a sauce are quick frozen or maintained frozen in the cooking pouch for delivery to the consumer. The consumer removes the frozen cooking pouch product from a freezer.
There are several options for cooking the raw protein and raw or blanched vegetables contained in the cooking pouch. Cooking may be performed in a conventional oven, a convection oven or by microwave cooking (dual ovenable).
The cooking time will vary according to the cooking process used and thickness of the raw protein. However, if for example, an approximate two ounce weight of a fish filet with two ounces of sauce and 1.5 ounces of vegetables is contained in a pouch, the pouch would be cooked in a microwave at four to five minutes, depending upon the wattage of the microwave. A cooking pouch including approximately three ounces of fish filet, two ounces of sauce and two ounces of vegetables would be placed in a microwave in a frozen state and cooked from 6.5 to eight minutes, depending upon the wattage of the microwave.
Similarly, the frozen cooking pouch would be heated in a conventional or convection oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooking times would again vary depending upon the thickness of the raw protein. However, a two ounce raw fish filet, two ounces of sauce and 1.5 ounces of raw or blanched vegetables would take approximately ten to fifteen minutes to cook in a preheated oven, whereas a three ounce raw fish filet, two ounces sauce and two ounces raw or blanched vegetables would take approximately fifteen to twenty minutes to cook in a preheated oven.
During the cooking process, the sealed pouch forms a pressure cooker type of arrangement. Steam released from the, now defrosted, raw protein and blanched vegetables, trapped in the sealed pouch aids in the cooking process. The steam reduces the cooking time and increases the flavor saturation. The sealed pouch allows the juices of the protein, sauce and vegetables to blend to season the food and provide a moist product. In addition, the steam prevents fish and other protein products, as well as the vegetables, from drying out during the cooking process. The reflective nature of the aluminum layer aids in the browning of the raw protein portion.
As an added safety feature, steam is allowed to be released through a pin hole size opening formed in one seam on the side of the pouch during the manufacturing process. If pressure is not released within approximately 20 minutes of cooking time, steam will be allowed to escape to prevent the explosion of the cooking pouch.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sealed cooking pouch for cooking raw protein product, blanched vegetables and a sauce in a reduced amount of time with a mixing of the juices of the protein, sauce and vegetables to blend and season the food product.
It is still another object of the present invention to prepare a cooking pouch including frozen raw protein food product sealed in the pouch, having a paper outermost layer and a coated aluminum layer as an innermost layer.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to heat seal the side edges of a cooking pouch so as to contain a raw protein food product so that the cooking pouch is heated to cook the raw protein product in an oven or microwave.
These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of the intended advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.